‘It’s a myth-making, right-wing scam’ – EFF on farm murders

We cannot even imagine how this one is going to play out in the rural regions of South Africa: EFF MP Nonhlanhla Mkhonto has dumped fuel on the burning ‘farm murders debate’, dismissing the issue as a ‘myth-making scam’.

Farm murders debate in Parliament

The controversial statement was made in Parliament on Tuesday. All political parties represented in the National Assembly were present, as the DA and FF Plus stated their case for an intensified response to these brutal crimes:

• Diane Kohler Barnard, of the DA, claims South Africa ‘has lost two-thirds of its commercial farmers’ due to rural violence.
• Pieter Groenewald, leader of the FF Plus, has told Bheki Cele to ‘conduct an in-depth investigation’ into farm attacks.
• Mkhonto, however, made it clear that the EFF would be showing little sympathy during the debate on farm murders.

EFF MP slams farm murders as a ‘myth-making scam’

Mkhonto suggested that farm murders are being framed with a racial narrative, projecting black people as the only ones who commit crime. She accused her political opponents of ignoring ‘more significant’ issues that affect African citizens:

“The debate about farm murders and even, the so-called white genocide in this country is an extension of this myth-making scam by right-wingers and those who are hell-bent on maintaining their colonially ill-gotten wealth by all means possible. We have a crime problem in this country, and that crime problem affects mainly black people.”

“There is no justification for any of these attacks on farms, as there is no justification for the senseless murder of old women accused of witchcraft in the Eastern Cape, or the brutal killings happening every day in Nyanga and Umlazi. This debate is done in a manner that seeks to project whites as victims, and blacks as perpetrators of crime.”

Nonhlanhla Mkhonto

Mkhonto: That tells you that the only lives that matter in their thinking, are white people’s lives. They have no interest in the resolution of crime in this country, as long as white interests and white lives are protected.

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) September 1, 2020

Mkhonto refuses to hold back in Parliament

The stinging rebuke does not end there, either. Mkhonto suggested that some farmers may have ‘invited violence’ upon themselves, citing tensions between landowners and farmhands over the years. This won’t be the last you hear of this exchange, we are sure…

“Farmers themselves are not innocent players in this debate. Between 1994 and today, they have evicted over two million black people from farms that have been homes to these people for generations. We do not know if there is any link between the cruel manner white farmers treat people and the violence that sometimes gets visited on them.”

“Whatever the case is, we must look at having a comprehensive approach to fighting crime in this country, and not prioritise farm attacks as our apex priority, because doing so will inevitably lead us to talking about race and racism.”

Nonhlanhla Mkhonto

Mkhonto: The DA is part of this grouping of white racists who want to deflect our attention, and focus on narrow aspect of the problem of crime we have in this country, in order to serve their own right wing aspirations.

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) September 1, 2020